Creative with electrical engineering for a quirky and circular building

A former military training building, artists who will design hotel rooms and installers who would rather reuse than order. At De Groene Afslag in Laren, a standard construction project is far from standard. Here, SDR Elektrotechniek is working on an anything but average renovation; with cable ducts from stripped buildings and lighting from forgotten storage closets.

SDR Elektrotechniek specializes in electrical installations. The Amsterdam-based company designs, realizes and maintains everything from data networks to fire alarm and security installations. In hospitals, museums, airports or hotels, for example, you have to be able to work without things grinding to a halt. "At De Groene Afslag, everything comes together," says junior project manager Sander Aptroot. "It is an office, training center, restaurant and hotel. We do the complete E-installation here: the lighting, fire and evacuation installation, data network, lightning protection - you name it."

Circular building with residual materials

The Green Exit is working toward a move in the summer of 2025. The new accommodation should be designed to be as sustainable as possible. It had been empty for 20 years. Ideal, because that gives room to experiment with circular construction. For SDR, that meant: no standard materials, but looking for what already existed. "We looked at what we could find in remnants or second-hand," says Aptroot. "A supplier gave us a list of warehouse supplies that would otherwise no longer be used. From that we and the architect chose the installation materials."

That yielded cable trays from a demolished building in Houten, second-hand switchgear and even a transformer and associated house - all reused. Enthusiasm arose throughout SDR. "Colleagues delivered mis-ordered or surplus parts, so they too had a place in this project. Circular thinking really began to take hold."

A construction site full of movement

Currently, SDR is still in the rough construction phase. An exact schedule is difficult, as many parts will only take their final form on site. "The client delivers the hotel rooms bare to thirty artists, who each put their own spin on them," says Aptroot. "There are only loose drawings, so the final image is hard to imagine. But that's exactly what makes it interesting."